Wall Street Bound

Michael Garland ’12

Last summer, Michael Garland ’12, Jessica Tarantino ’12 and Sarah Tarantino ’12 interned at J.P. Morgan in New York City. This summer, they will head to full time jobs with the financial industry giant.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Michael, Jess and Sarah,” says Bob Murphy, the Vice President of Enrollment Management who also oversees the Salisbury Center for Career Services. “To land these jobs, they have distinguished themselves from the best and the brightest in the country and they follow in the footsteps of some amazing alums who have built their careers there.”

Garland, who served as a cash equities trading and sales trading intern last summer, now has a position as an analyst on the energy derivatives desk.

“If there is one thing I learned last summer, it is not necessarily how to effectively trade, hedge positions, mitigate risk, or understand the complexities behind the driving forces in our markets. Rather, the most important lesson I learned is that hard work carries more weight than I ever thought possible,” says Garland. “Competing against brilliant students from prestigious colleges was intimidating at first, but I learned firsthand that a diligent work ethic, strong attitude, and consistent performance was valued higher.”

Jessica Tarantino ’12 and Sarah Tarantino ’12

An economics and English major, Garland was among a select group of students who served as hosts to delegates of the Global Venture Capital Congress held on campus last year.

After taking part in Hobart and William Smith’s Finance Experience, which brings HWS students to New York City to meet with alums and parents in the business, the Tarantinos landed J.P. Morgan summer internships last year as IB risk summer analysts. Working for consumer, healthcare and retail clients, Jessica explains they performed annual credit reviews of companies, assessing how their credit risk has changed over the past year, and working with analysts on live transactions packages.

“The learning curve was steep, and the work was challenging,” says Jessica, “but I learned so much in just the first four weeks.”

Sarah agrees, “It forces you to work hard, but it was a great experience.”

Now, the two will return to J.P. Morgan as credit risk analysts.

Both Tarantino sisters are double majors in mathematics and economics. Jessica previously interned at M&T Bank in Buffalo and at the Geneva General Hospital Finance and Accounting Office, while Sarah served as a portfolio valuations intern at Markit and a telecommunications intern at M&T Bank.